Bullish bets on Brent spike again to highest since April

Money managers made their largest addition so far this year to their bullish holdings of Brent crude futures and options in the latest week, beating a record they set only a week ago, as oil prices firmed above $50 per barrel, exchange data showed.Reuters | August 14, 2017, 17:23 IST

London: Money managers made their largest addition so far this year to their bullish holdings of Brent crude futures and options in the latest week, beating a record they set only a week ago, as oil prices firmed above $50 per barrel, exchange data showed.

Data from the InterContinental Exchange showed on Monday speculators raised their net long holdings of Brent crude futures and options by 58,255 contracts during the week to Aug. 8 on top of adding 53,777 contracts in the week to Aug 1.

That was the largest weekly increase in the net long since early December 2016, in the immediate aftermath of OPEC's decision to jointly cut output with rival producers by 1.8 million barrels per day this year.

Total net long positions in Brent stood at 400,603 contracts, the highest level since late April when crude prices rose on hopes OPEC would extend production cuts.

The latest gain in net longs was driven in part by a 23 percent drop in short positions to the lowest since Feb. 28 at 63,635 contracts. It was the sixth straight week of declines in short positions in Brent.